Can You Keep a Secret
by Jay1892
Summary: Alfred F. Jones has the perfect life until his deepest darkest secret is spilled to the modern world. This is the story of how the biggest secret in American history was let out. USUK Fanfiction
1. Chapter 1

He was in trouble, oh so very much trouble. He was waist deep in trouble and still sinking so fast it nearly made his head spin. The day had started like any other. He had reluctantly rolled out of bed, ate his breakfast, showered, went to work and not half way through the day a single even occurred that forced the life he had so painstakingly built over the years to start careening downwards like a rock being pulled down by earth's ever present gravity. Everything was falling apart before his eyes and it was all due to a few careless cracks in his life's foundation. The walls were caving in and all he could do was run, run as far and as fast as he could.

That's exactly what he did. He ran out of the office building and into the busy city streets with a crowd of question people chasing after him, begging for him to give answers he wasn't supposed to give. He didn't even think about his car as getting stuck in the daily traffic was not an option lest he want to get caught by his pursuers. All he could do was use his superior speed and agility to try and out run them just enough so that he could make it back to the safe zone of his house.

This is Alfred F. Jones and this is how the biggest secret in American history was let out.

So let's start at the beginning with the profile of said Alfred F. Jones. Eyes, light blue. Hair, dark blonde. Height, 6 feet 2 inches. Weight, 235 pounds. Gender, Male. Age, over 300 years. Now before you laugh, stare quizzically, or close this story some things ought to be explained so that what you're reading makes much more sense.

Unbeknownst to the public of the world there lives among us are a special breed of people in which the government has slapped on the name 'Nation.' Per country one person his born at the birth of that nation to represent its masses in a single humanoid form. They're just like any other person. They eat, sleep, breathe, have jobs, go to movies, have hobbies, and… urges… just like anyone else. The only differences that remain are their inability to age regularly or die from wounds that would normally kill someone else. So in our case Alfred F. Jones is well over three centuries old and yet continues to look like a kid fresh out of college.

In representation, full and official, he was the personification of the United States of America down to every knick and scar on his skin and every quirk and aspect of his personality. The only catch to being of this breed was that they had to keep their true identities completely undercover and out of the public eye lest they face dire consequences.

Now how this all came about was the classic situation of those crazy paranoid Americans and their conspiracy theories, you know along with those ones like Big Foot, Area 51, and the Jersey Devil. Everything that brought him down was just a few simple pictures. To be exact one from 1919, one from 1945, one from 1980, and then lastly one of him from present day. Now magically one man- some guy from New York State that when by the name of Jimmy Mallory. An older gentleman who had a hobby for collecting old photographs- had acquired all these photos of different presidents from an auction and noticed the same face of a certain youth in every one. He had seen that face before, somewhere very common. At that moment the news was on where the current president of the United States was giving a speech on some sort of new health bill when Jimmy noticed that same face in the back ground behind the president.

Suddenly it clicked.

He became obsessed and started to research the boy. What was his name, where he was born, how old was he, where did he work? It couldn't be some strange coincidence not when four pictures from four different eras all had a boy with the exact same face. It was amazing the way a single occurrence could force someone to become so completely hung up on it.

So that morning Alfred was procrastinating on his work as usual when he was suddenly called to the lobby for he had a man who wished to speak with him. Alfred put down the stapler he was busy playing with and nodded in agreement, fixing his tie and heading to the nearest elevator to make the familiar trip down to the lobby of his office building. When he got down to the lobby there was a rather large group of people hanging around by the entrance, but a single man stood apart from the rest as he were the ring leader. He was on the short side with a stocky build with small round glasses balancing on the edge of his crooked nose. He approached Alfred with confidence in his stride and a yellow folder in his hands. "Alfred F. Jones, I presume." He spoke.

Alfred looked at him curiously for a moment, "Uh… yeah you got it, something I can help you with?" Alfred asked politely as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

"Mr. Jones my name his Jimmy Mallory and I'd like to ask your opinion on these." He said as he held the folder out for Alfred to take.

"What are they; papers, pictures?"

"Pictures." He replied sternly. What was with this guy? Something about him just made Alfred feel uneasy and that was a difficult thing to do as he was just about as oblivious as they came. Alfred took the folded, eyeing Jimmy curiously again before opening the folder and inspecting its contents. Pictures… he recognized these pictures and…. His blood froze icy cold in his veins and his wide blue eyes slowly traveled to Jimmy's face.

"I… I-I these pictures… t-they're…" For once in his life Alfred was left at a loss for words.

There was triumph in Jimmy's eyes as he spoke again, "Now Mr. Jones, you would you mind telling me how old you are?" He said with the smallest of smirks.

"Me…? I'm t-twenty five…" He replied back nervously.

"Now are you, really? Because according to the documents I've dug up about you you've been around for a good long time; much longer than the life span of any _regular_ human." His intense grey eyes seemed to bore a hole into Alfred's head as he spoke.

Alfred's dark blonde brows knitted together, "Look, I don't know what you've got going on here, but whatever it is it isn't true. I'm just a regular guy at work." He said even though it was a lie.

"I don't believe you, I've spent the last two and half researching your existence and I'm positive that you aren't who you say you are." Alfred didn't know how to respond. There was no way he could at least not without making it completely obvious he was lying right through his pearly white teeth. "You know Mr. Jones; it's amazing what the press'll eat up these days to keep the media world satiated. You see all those people behind me? Some of them are my fellow followers, but some of them are from local news papers." News papers? He was bluffing, or at least Alfred hoped he was.

How was this happening? Why was this happening? Alfred had gone centuries without raising suspicion towards his existence and suddenly out of the blue here was someone threatening his way of life. "Now, Mr. Jones we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice, but either way the world's gonna know about your existence one way or another."

What was he supposed to say to that? Well this was it; fight or flight mode. Alfred had nothing to fight with so all that was left was flight and that's exactly what he did. Off he took like a jet as fast as his feet would carry him out of the building with Jimmy and his band of followers hot on his heels.

So now we fast forward to where the story began now that you know how we got there. He bound over puddles, dodged people, even hoped a fence or two all while dressed up in a full black and grey pin striped suit. He knew these streets more than anything and it wasn't long before the group of theorists where nowhere in sight. Still Alfred didn't stop retreating until he was safely back home in his apartment with every door and window locked and every blind and curtain drawn closed.

When he was safe and sound only then did Alfred breathe a sigh of relief and fumbled around for his cell phone to call the only person he knew he could talk to. As the dull ringing echoed from the depths of his cell phone a similar ring echoed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in a Victorian style home nestled in the heart of London. A certain Briton groaned as the sound stirred him from his sleep, emerald green eyes cracking open as he sleepily groped his night stand for his phone. Who in the hell would be calling him this bloody late in the evening? He looked at the screen with bleary eyes. Alfred? Obnoxious git….

"Alfred?" He answered groggily as he opened the phone. "You better bloody well have a good reason for waking me up…" He said bitterly as he flipped over onto his back.

"Artie… I got a real problem…" Alfred replied nervously as he ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair in anxiety.

"Can't it wait till morning- or at least morning where I'm from?"

"No it's… w-well I… Artie…" The American stammered nervously as he struggled to find the right words to describe his situation. "People they… they uh…."

"Spit it out, god damn it, so I can sleep!" Arthur shouted angrily into the receiver.

"I'm in deep shit Artie! People they… they know… a-about me… the real me…"

Arthur's thickened brows rose quizzically as he let it process. The real him? What in god's name was Alfred talking abo-! And then it hit him and his blood too froze in his veins. He knew what Alfred was talking about. The American really was in deep shit.

**Woo! New story! It's focusing mostly around conspiracy theorist in American (and just how crazy they really are) and what would happen if those loveable Hetalia characters really did exist. A short starting chapter, but most of these chapters probably will be short anyway. **

**Reviews are always appreciated! Thanks so much! **


	2. Chapter 2

"Found out… what do you mean found out?" Arthur was panicking, panicking horribly on the inside. The day had been splendid, work had gone well, it hadn't rained, and the newest episode of Dr. Who had played on the telly. What else could Arthur possibly want from the day? But of course life always had a nasty habit of coming back to bite him right in the arse. Life was just obnoxious like that.

"When I said found out I mean found out," Alfred's exasperated voice echoed from the other end of the telephone line. "About me, y'know like how I'm immortal and shit? You're a country too you should know what I mean." Alfred crossed his apartment, loosening his tie as he did before flopping down into his favorite sofa.

"Well how the hell did you manage that? I thought your government was positively paranoid about keeping your existence a secret just like all that secret stuff you keep in Area 51." Out of all the governments that wanted to keep the nation's existences a secret Alfred's had to be the worst. The list of things Alfred wasn't supposed to do (But he did anyway because he was America and he could do whatever the hell he wanted to) ran a mile long. If there was one government that could keep the nation's existence a secret it was America's yet look where they were now.

"I don't know…" Alfred groaned as he folded his forearm over his eyes. "Some guy found some old pictures with me in the backgrounds and he went all crazy obsessive and came to me at work and accused me of being immortal."

Arthur pressed his lips together. That seemed highly unbelievable. "Alfred… I swear to god if this is one of your bloody practically jokes I'm going to fly over there and beat your arse until there's nothing left of it." The Briton threatened bitterly.

"It's not a joke!" Alfred protested as he swiftly pulled himself off the couch. "I swear I'm 100% serious!" He crossed the room to the window. "As we speak him and mob of followers are standing outside the entrance to my apartment building. Thank God they don't know the pass code to get in otherwise they'd be at my front door." Alfred cracked the blinds slightly and sure enough there along the sidewalk was a group of people anxiously waiting for the time when Alfred would leave his apartment again.

"I'm gonna lose it Artie…" Alfred said voice strained and desperate. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do…. You know I don't so well in confined spaces for long and I haven't been trapped inside 30 minutes and I need to get out again…" Alfred paced along the length of the room, a habit he always partook in when he was nervous.

The strain in Alfred's voice was almost too unbearable for Arthur to hear. Whether Alfred was obnoxious or not it always hurt Arthur to see the American in a mood other than his usual happy-go-lucky one. "Alright Alfred, just calm down, and stop your pacing because I know that's what you're doing right now. The pacing is just going to make you more nervous."

Alfred smiled faintly, "You know me well Artie, but I can't stop. Pacing when I'm nervous makes me feel a little better." Biting his nails was also a habit that he just couldn't shake. He muttered out his words with his fingers shoved in his mouth as he gnawed off the ends of his nails.

"Stop biting your nails too. You'll only complain when you cut them off too short and they hurt." Arthur warned knowing exactly what it was Alfred was doing.

"I can't help it! I didn't know what to do when he came up to me! I should've acted calm and just acted like he was crazy, but I panicked and ran and now I'm obviously suspicious!" Alfred fisted his locks of dark blonde hair within his hands.

Arthur pressed his thin pink lips together, "Have you spoken to your boss? Maybe this will all just blow over…" The Briton tried to sound as soothing as possible.

"I don't know… he seemed pretty serious about smoking me out…" Alfred couldn't seem to shake of the chill of Jimmy's intense grey eyed stare from his mind. "He even got some local papers in on it. The media has been going to some extreme lengths to get good stories recently. The probability of an immortal man seems to be the most interesting thing now."

Arthur remained silent for a few more moments, worrying his bottom lip thoughtfully. "You don't… you don't think he can find out about the rest of us… do you?" Arthur didn't mean to sound selfish, but after struggling constantly for 2000 years to keep his true identity a secret having his cover blown could be devastating to the British nation.

"I don't know, I think it's just me for now, but if word really does get out that there's a guy personifying America they'll think there has to be more in other countries too…" Alfred sat down again trying to keep himself calm.

Arthur didn't want to ask, but the next question he had burned fiercely on his tongue like a thousand lit match sticks. Alfred knew what the question would be. He knew Arthur far too well. "What… what do you think will happen to… to us… if that happens… if we're both found out?"

The American leaned his head back against the couch and looked up at the pale ceiling above him. "… I don't know…" He answered truthfully. "But I'm not going to let any of this crazy stuff break us apart." He wouldn't. Of course not. Hero's didn't let things crash so easily.

"… But it might cause a lot of upset among the populations…" Arthur worried.

"Let's just not think about it like that Arthur. It hasn't gotten to that point yet. Maybe this all will just blow over in time. For now let's just not think about it and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Why worry over something that hasn't happened yet. Alfred and Arthur didn't need to cause themselves the grief just yet.

"I suppose you're right…" Arthur sighed softly.

A brief silence hung in the air between the phone lines. "I should let you get to sleep. I'll call my boss and figure out what to do with this guy."

"Yes, that would be best I supposed." Arthur replied.

"Okay… I love you Artie." Alfred added sweetly.

A soft smile rose to Arthur's lips. "Yes, yes… I love you too. Keep a stiff upper lip lad, everything will smooth over." Alfred thanked Arthur for his confidence and with a few goodbyes exchanged each one hung up the phone and returned to their previous activities.

Arthur snuggled back down into his blankets and pillows, but found that he was much too awake to fall back to sleep. He continued to lie comfortably in his bed, but his green eyes stayed open and staring at the ceiling above him. The duo would just have to cross that bridge when they came to it wouldn't they…?

Alfred looked up at the ceiling from behind the dull lenses of his glasses. He and Arthur had been dating for nearly half a year now. After centuries of dancing around each other finally the two nations had met in the middle and started a relationship that was 300 years in the making.

The American couldn't help, but wonder about Arthur's question. If they were both to be found out what would happened to their relationship then? The populations may not like it when they discovered the United Kingdom was in a relationship with the United States of America. Sure they had that whole 'Special Relationship' thing going for them, but it was slowly dwindling away in the political sense of the saying.

If all of that happened what would they do? Alfred loved Arthur. Love him more than anything and he wouldn't allow something as simple and petty as an upset in the population tear them apart after they had worked so hard to get where they were.

Still worry was always there like a shadow following his every movement.


	3. Chapter 3

Mental note: telling your boss that one of the government's biggest secrets just happened to slip out into the public world was not a good idea. Alfred's boss hadn't yelled at him when he had given the man a ring on the phone, but the sheer intensity lying behind his rather monotone voice was enough to give the American nation the willies. It was in that terrifying monotonous voice the President demanded that Alfred come to his New York office immediately. Going to the white house meant going out into the street and going out into the street meant facing Jimmy Mallory and his loyal band of followers still hanging around outside the American's apartment building like a bunch of creepy stalkers. Obviously Alfred's boss couldn't come to him since that would make them even more suspicious. A line of police cars, dozens of secret service agents, and a big jet black car with two American flags gracing the antennas wasn't exactly what you'd call discreet. So the only option left would be braving it out against Jimmy and the stalker group. Alfred could do it; he was a hero after all… right?

Alfred changed into street clothes, the idea of blending into the crowds his intention, and discreetly made his way down the stairs. Using the back entrance would be best since Jimmy and his group appeared to be lingering around the front. "Alfred!" Came a voice, a rather loud irritating voice. He visibly flinched thinking that somehow Jimmy and his followers had made it in, but when he turned it was only his landlord and building manager, Marvin. "What the hell is going on? Did you get yourself a fan club or something?" He asked, scratching the stubble on his chin as he spoke.

"Oh uh… Hey Marvin. No I didn't it's just they're… well…" What was he supposed to say? 'Oh yeah they're these crazy people who're claiming I'm immortal, but they're not really crazy because it's true.' That was just another one of those man lines that'd get Alfred tossed in the nut house. "Y'know what, I've gotta go, meeting with the boss and stuff. I'll catch you later." Before Marvin had any chance to protest against that Alfred had already taken off out the back door, running along the back ally way to stay out of the eyes of the people.

The feeling of the warm sun and the wind rustling in his dark blonde locks felt amazingly good. Being confined in the walls of his apartment wasn't exactly the most ideal situation for someone who valued freedom as much as Alfred did. It was the thing he lived and thrived off of. But who knew what would happen now that his secret was slowly trickling into society. Most likely his boss would confine him to the secret space under the white house until everything blew over. At the very least he'd have to uproot and move to a different half of the country or at least a different state. But Alfred was more or less used to that by now. Nations couldn't live in one place for long lest their neighbors start to wonder why they looked the same while everyone else slowly deteriorated with age. But he had uprooted only a year and a half ago. He was hoping to be able to stay where he was for at least another three or four years, but with this little bit of chaos going down that seemed a wistful impossibility.

It wasn't long before Alfred arrived at the building. He didn't live far seeing as how he usually liked to keep his work places close. He was given a small scorned look from a few people when he arrived in jeans and a t-shirt with a name scrawled on the front, but he quite frankly couldn't care less. Alfred's boss of course was up on the top floor in the largest office in the building where his little secret agent would have plenty of room to spread out and watch every little speck of dust that happened to shift out of place. Alfred admired their self-control and everything, but those men seriously needed to learn to at least look like they were breathing and not just really life like statues.

Alfred inhaled a deep calming breath and willed his legs to hold him as he reached up and rapped one the door a few times with his knuckles. "Come in." Sounded sternly from the bowels of the room. The American nation swallowed thickly and turned the knob with his sweaty hands.

Alfred's boss was sitting at the desk as per usual, papers and files spread about him. Alfred knew full well that those were the files of his history wandering the earth. Records of all the places he had lived and people he had become particularly close to so that repeats and run-ins could be avoided. "Good Afternoon sir, nice day isn't it?" Alfred tried desperately to lift the tense and stifling atmosphere of the room, but his boss seemed to have no interest in idle chit-chat.

"Sit down, Alfred." Alfred said nothing else, but gave brisk nod with a hanging head as he took a seat in front of the desk; the leather cushion squeaking slightly beneath him. The American nervously fidgeted, folding and unfolding his hands together in his lap as he stared at floor as if one of the stray fibers in the carpet seemed unimaginably interesting at the moment. "So," The man at the desk started, winter in his voice. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"With all due respect sir, I haven't done anything wrong. Not this time at least." There has been a close call or two in the past records at the fault of Alfred, but none had ever been quite like this and this one wasn't even his own fault.

"I have a hard time believing that. You're always going off doing things you're not supposed to be doing and look where it's brought you." Alfred felt like a little kid being scolded for stealing cookies or coloring on the walls or something like that. It seemed rather undignified to be scolded like that when he was well over two-hundred years old and his boss was only in his late forties. Maybe maturity determined your true age.

"But sir, it wasn't my fault. If anything it was the guys who work to keep my case a secret." Alfred accused, becoming somewhat annoyed how he was being blamed unjustly. Nobody new justice like Alfred did, his country was built upon it. "They're supposed to be regulating all the photographs of me and they didn't do their job because the guy who got a hold of my pictures bought them freely from an auction." Burn! Alfred smirked triumphantly.

"Yes well… oh, whatever," The man gave up, realizing that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't Alfred at fault this time. "It doesn't matter who is currently at fault right now we just need to figure out a way to get the situation under control."

"I'm not going into hiding. You know I can't do that, I'll lose my mind." Alfred protested firmly.

"We may just have to unless this man gives up sometime soon." Alfred swallowed thickly.

"Too bad the F.B.I hasn't fully developed the memory wipe out yet." Alfred commented as he leaned back in his chair.

His boss sighed heavily though his nose, "I suppose so, but I wouldn't want to have to resort to that anyway even it was developed and safe." He leaned back in his own chair a little, the stress of the day's events getting to him a little.

"Then what do we do? Bribe him until he leaves me alone? Money seems to work with a lot of things now since the recession is getting bad." He knew that pretty much anyone would pretty much do anything for money these days.

"We can't waist government on paying someone off not to mention you mention he had followers and we can't pay all of them off as well…." A valid point. "You don't think he's gotten to the local papers yet has he?"

"Well I know he said he went to some of them, but who would believe him anyway? Actually… I may be wrong. If I know my people, and I think I would, they're looking for any kind of interesting story that'd distract them from personal problems." Things were not currently going very well among the people with the absence of money in a lot of their bank accounts. He himself was even low on funds and it made him feel awful. Just imagine what the populace was like.

His boss buried his face in his hands for a few moments, letting out another heavy sigh, "I certainly hope not, but if he has I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. We can't send out the agents and have them pick up the papers and invade news offices or that'll make us seem even more suspicious…" He leaned forward, resting on his elbows. "I'm afraid we just may be cornered this time…"

"Sir… if that happens what do we do…? People are obviously going to want to know about me. What would I do?

"I'm not sure, but it hasn't gotten to that point quite yet. All we have left to do is wait and read the paper. Hopefully everyone just deemed him a nutcase and ignored what he said."

Alfred hoped so. He really hoped so. But his boss was right, all they could do was wait.

**Yeah… reeeeally short chapter, but the problem is I know where I want to go with the story, but it's just difficult to find things to put in the middle. Next chapter will be longer I promise. Please forgive me! **


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